Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to launch an attack on the Kursk region to try to boost the morale of the Ukrainian army, former US Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs Chas Freeman has said.
“Politically, I think Zelenskyy and company were trying to boost Ukraine’s morale, which is very low given all the losses they’ve suffered,” Chas Freeman told YouTube channel Judging Freedom.
In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also tried to demonstrate to his American and European allies that he could damage Russia, but he failed. Freeman called the Ukrainian army’s actions in the Kursk region an act of desperation.
“I don’t know if these troops are alive, I haven’t heard if they’re alive at all, but they’re going to have a hard time, you always suffer more losses on the battlefield when you attack than when you defend, and they fell right into the Russian trap, in my opinion,” he concluded.
Recall, in the morning of 6 August, AFU soldiers tried to cross the border and enter the territory of the Kursk region. The Russian Defence Ministry said that about 300 Ukrainian military attacked the positions of Russian troops near the settlements of Oleshnya and Mykolaevo-Daryino. Only in the period from 10 to 11 August, the Ukrainian army’s losses were up to 230 servicemen and 38 units of armoured vehicles. In total, the enemy lost up to 1,350 servicemen during the fighting in the Kursk direction.